Mistwalker (9 page)

“How do you feel?” Juliun stepped closer between her legs, and the heat of his body seeped into her quivering thighs.

Strength rushed into her arms, her fingers, her whole body thrumming to life. This wasn’t natural; it was determination of mammoth proportions. She moaned in ecstasy, her face hot, feeling energy coursing through her back, and building into her thighs and stomach. Fangs extended, she raised her head, licked her wet lips, tasting the coppery richness.

“More please.”

The old man laughed, but Juliun coughed, his nostrils flaring. His gaze filled with intent, zeroed in on hers with a silent message that throbbed in the air.
 “You are so beautiful,” he said, coarsely. Then he shakily stepped back and collapsed into mist.

Lissanne frowned and shook her head. “I’m not sure you should,
dear. There’s wisdom in starting out slowly, a lot of new vampires have troubles if they take too much at once.”

“I need more. I want…” Simone rocked and jumped in the chair, banging it against the floor, trying to break the damn thing.

“Enough,” Juliun demanded as he reappeared and floated to the bottle on the counter. He poured himself another glass. “You will be sick.” He sounded choked, and his pale throat worked as he gulped down the blood.

Simone spilled all her jealousy and hate into a single glare, but his gaze was a mass of swirling emotions. His startling grey eyes were the same shade as the old man’s, except something else glittered in Juliun’s depths. He stared at her as if there were no one else in the room. She remembered he’d called her ‘love.’ Why did he do that?

“Do not worry. You will have plenty later,” he promised. “We have no intention of hurting you. You are safe here.”

“Why?”

He fell silent, and then said, “You cannot leave Ravenkeep until you gain control.” He elegantly shrugged his broad shoulders and sat down at the desk. “You will feed later.”

“I cannot leave
? What about your promise to release me?” She wanted to scream. “I am not staying here.”

 
“There are special circumstances as to why you must. Your thirst, for one. My promise was to free you from the chains. The others will see you to your room. You will be made very comfortable and be afforded every luxury.”

 
“Except my freedom.” She growled low in her throat. “Forget it. I’m not going anywhere with them, and nothing and no one can make me.”

 
“Not even this?” Juliun asked quietly, holding up another glass of blood. “You have only had a taste of what it is like to go without, love.”

 
She glared at him. “Don’t call me that. I am not your love.”

He finished the blood with a sigh and set the glass on the desk. “We do need to talk.”

 “I want to go back home.”

His face turned stony, and he floated around the desk. “You have no choice until you learn how to take care of yourself. You don’t
know who or what you are. You were starving—”

 
“I don’t even know what’s going on. Why the hell did you take me?”

 
“That must seem obvious now. For your own protection. For the protection of others. You will not last one day without our help. We will show you what it means to be a vampire.” He made a signal with his hand. “You need to accept the truth of who you are.”

 
“You’re the one who made me this way. I need your help like I need a six-foot hole and my name on top.”

 
In her peripheral vision, she saw Vaughn, Sanchez and the guards coming for her. They would make good on their promise and keep her locked up until doomsday if she didn’t do something. She traced back through her memories, but nothing had ever prepared her for chains and a group of immortal attackers, the kind who liked to chew on you for fun in the dead of night.

Vampires, eh?
She wondered if he could read her thoughts, then didn’t think that so impossible. She built a wall around her mind.

Juliun stalked back to his seat and leaned back, totally relaxed. “My men will release you from the chains. Please accept the truth of who you are. It is for your own safety. Remember, you will need to slake your thirst. You could kill yourself. We will have to search for you, and your friend in hospital needs our resources at this time.”

 Simone stared up at him aghast. “You mean you’re watching Tammy? What do you want with her? Why would you want to find me?”

 
“Your friend is under our surveillance.” He leaned forward, his eyes glittering, resting his muscled arms on the desk. “And I thought I had been overwhelmingly clear about why you are needed here.”

 
Fire burst into her face. Energy surges ran hot in her veins. She bounced against the chair, but it was too solid to break. What was it made out of—packed concrete and steel? The thought made her angry as all get out.

“No,” she said. “No.
No.”

“Not even to save your friend?”

Realisation struck, and heat drained from her face. What tortures had they devised for her best friend? Wetness dripped to Simone’s face. She needed to leave. She sent out a thought to be with Tammy. “You’re threatening that?”

“No.” He rose to his feet, his eyes widened. “No, I did not
mea—”

“The first tears of blood,” Lissanne shouted and lurched forward. “Juliun—”

Too late.

Simone screamed and disintegrated. Swift as thought, she became mist, and the chains clattered against the chair.

Chapter
Ten

Simone patted various parts of her body in shock. She’d disappeared. Every single, little, itty-bitty part of her. Her heart refused to slow. An old man lay on the hospital bed she’d occupied earlier, and luckily his eyes were closed; otherwise she might have a geriatric coronary to add to her conscience along with bringing Tammy into one hell of a mess.

Like the bad dreams from Simone’s childhood, the faster she ran, the slower she moved down the corridor. She swished aside curtain after curtain in the rooms, looking for Tammy.

In the reception part of the hospital, two silhouettes stepped together; looming at the end of the wide corridor, and Simone skidded to a halt, her heart pounding. They took one look at her and started running. She spun around and sprinted for the lifts.

Their footsteps pounded on the hard floor, their harsh voices echoing. “Wait. Stop right there! We aren’t going to hurt you.”

She focused on the quickest exit, and panic mushroomed in her chest. How could she escape them? She must fade…disappear…or whatever the hell stunt she’d just pulled. The elevator appeared in front of her, and she pressed the down button with a manic tapping.

The image of her bedroom all the way back in Michigan filled her mind.
Now. Do it now. Take me home. I am there.

Her body burned with a sickening rush. She screamed
, gasped, and then coughed, opening her eyes to find herself sitting on the edge of her bed, the soft pink comforter spread beneath her trembling fingers. The alarm clock on her bedside table read 9 pm in red digits.

Home.
Michigan.

Where could she go now?

Juliun’s men would go to her holiday rental in Whitby, but would they come all the way to the U.S? If they went to the trouble to kidnap her from the hospital, then a different country would offer no trouble. She needed to find somewhere safe and dark.

A place to hide.

She recalled the black wind that had brushed against her in town when Juliun first appeared. That had been him, and he’d somehow given her that ability when his teeth pierced her skin, and then he ordered her kidnapping. She flung open her wardrobe door in a burst of speed and ripped the hospital gown over her head. In record time, she’d dragged on clean panties, a pair of jeans, sneakers, blouse and a white sunhat. Sunglasses. She bolted to her dresser and threw them into a large woven bag along with spare panties, change, and the spare mobile phone in her vanity drawer.

“Assholes with teeth,” she muttered and pulled out the box from the top of her cupboard. She tossed knuckle dusters, nun-chucks, a knife and mace onto the bed, but tucked the ninja stars into her back pockets and the nun-chucks into the back waistband of her jeans. The rest she put into the bag then picked up the stool by her dressing table and smashed the chair against the wall.

The plaster caved in, and the fluffy pink seat rolled off, but the wooden legs came apart in her hands. Four stakes. Nothing else would fit inside her bag, but she couldn’t leave without her toothbrush. She hurried to the bathroom, splashed disinfectant onto her wrists, and the liquid hissed in the wounds. She gritted her teeth.

The front door crashed open, and the bathroom mirror rattled. She glanced up into its surface. The shower stall reflected back in the glass. No reflection. She had no reflection.

Hell!

She concentrated on the picture of a small cave she used to play in as a child and sent out a prayer that she’d make it.

The bathroom door slammed open, but she was gone.

Chapter
Eleven

Grandfather had warned Juliun that Simone caused havoc at the hospital and maybe she would have done the same at Ravenkeep. However, Juliun never really listened, and he couldn’t blame the others when the fault landed squarely on his shoulders. He didn’t want to swallow that pill. His unintended threat to her friend forced her to leave. He’d done that, no one else. He’d bungled the most important matter in his life.

He scrutinised the group seated at the long table, and denial clogged his throat at their guarded expressions. Gazes danced away from his. His chest tightened. Had something happened to his bride in his absence? She hadn’t…?

“Tell me.”

Servants hovered with trays of blood and bowed at his sudden presence. “
Your Highness.” Their harmonious tone contrasted starkly to the uncomfortable silence in the meeting room.

“Juliun.”

He stiffened at the sound of his mother’s voice, and he closed his eyes, readying himself for the blow.

Lissanne placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. “Are you all right, son?”

Her gaze moved over his face, his hair, down the length of his shirt slashed open at the neck, his ripped pants, one good shoe and one bare foot covered with dried mud. “What…on earth happened to you?” she asked, delicately.

Little black and white dots danced in front of his eyes. He swayed, nausea digging into his stomach, but he leaned against the
table and shifted his gaze between Vaughn and Sanchez. “Tell me.”

Vaughn met the stare unflinchingly. “We haven’t found her. And...” he hesitated, “We discovered Lars is missing.”

Juliun cursed. The shine of the mahogany table faded in and out. Dire thoughts of a hungry, weak vampire on the loose with his newly turned bride ran amok through his mind. “He is too hungry. If our enemies get hold of him, they will know what happened with her…” He couldn’t finish that train of thought. “We need to step up the search. Lars’ mind is too easy to break. He cannot prevent anyone from seeking his memories.”

“You should rest.” Lissanne resumed her seat. “You’ve done nothing but search. Let Radu take up the trail. He will leave no stone unturned.”

“No doubt, but Grandfather’s place is here. She could bite another. Walk into sunlight.” Juliun clenched his fists. Searing pain slashed away at his insides at the thought of losing her. “I have to be out there looking.”

One taste of her blood and a few glimpses of her face weren’t enough.
Not nearly enough.
He didn’t think he could bear not having her in his life now. He had so much to share, to give, and without her the emptiness might totally consume him. How could he have been so stupid as to transfer the mist?

Klaus stood suddenly and tramped toward the door. “The employees are assembled, Sire.”

Juliun nodded. “Bring them in.” He plucked a glass from a servant’s tray and downed the warmed blood. His mind focused a little, but he shook from the urgency in his heart. He smiled to the group of loyal workers and motioned for them to take a seat or find a place around the table. He felt too sick to partake of more blood.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” Some of the vampires before him had been employees at Ravenkeep for hundreds of years. The shifting firelight in the room played across their skin, highlighting the eagerness and curiosity in their eyes.

They wanted him to find his bride. Juliun smiled. “Klaus has given everyone a picture of Simone plus a cell phone for those with none. Use speed dial one if you need me. You will be separated to search for them both. They will be thirsty, so be wary. You could be attacked. Do not approach Lars, ring me, and I will transport him.”

“You think she’ll go into town?” Sanchez twisted the stem of his wine glass and studied the red depths. “That’s where I’m headed. She must be lying low for my contacts to know nothing.”